The NBA on Thursday rescinded one of the two technical fouls assessed to Celtics center Kendrick Perkins in Boston's loss to Orlando in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night, meaning Perkins will be available to play in Friday's Game 6.

The NBA took back the second of the two technicals, which occurred with 36.1 seconds remaining in the first half and resulted in Perkins' automatic ejection. Referee Eddie F. Rush tagged Perkins with the technical for arguing a foul call.

First off, he's undermined his coach by acting lax after losses when Brown has been sounding alarm bells. It is James' personality not to be too worried about anything and it was not expected that he'd be throwing people into lockers and such. But his "we'll get 'em next game" philosophy has clearly backfired. With the exception of Game 3, despite all the handshakes and nonsense, the Cavs have been knocked on their heels in every game.

It has further become problematic that James has been disengaged during the games. Not only has he fallen into the trap of "letting the game come to him," but he's been increasingly distant. In huddles he's looking at the ceiling or into the distance. It is not the James anyone on the team knows and his teammates and coaches have seen it. More problematic, they can't explain it and that is making the entire locker room uneasy.

On Tuesday it was Zydrunas Ilgauskas and O'Neal that actually were more proactive. They were showing more leadership than James both on the floor and off the floor.

There were two skirmishes on the court. One was with Kendrick Perkins and O'Neal and the other was with Mo Williams and Rajon Rondo. James showed no such fire and then didn't get get involved in the exchanges, staying off to the side.

"They still haven"t won nothing," he said Saturday of Cleveland. "They're just the best team in the league. They still haven't done nothing we haven't done. Right now, they're the best team in the league and we just got to go at them."

O'Neal has been sidelined with an injured right thumb he suffered against the Celtics on Feb. 25. The Cavs hope to get O'Neal back for the playoffs, but have gone 7-1 without the legendary center.

"In my opinion, I think they're better," Perkins said. "They can run more. You've got Anderson Varejao, who's more of an active body. He gets LeBron (James) open a lot - opens up the paint for him.

"I think they're a better team. Obviously Shaq can help them, but I think they're better - a more fast-paced team."